A new in-development mod for Arma 3 called 2017 looks like an altogether grim take on the future of humanity. Planned as a full-conversion of Arma 3 and its giant Altis map, 2017 has a new teaser trailer this week that gives us some good insight into the mod's post-apocalyptic atmosphere.
Although it shares part of its name with an older Arma 2 mod called DayZ 2017 , the design team maintains in the project's announcement that 2017 for Arma 3 represents a "unique experience," totally separate from the DayZ Mod. There are no zombies planned for the mod, but rather humans infected with an "unknown mutagen," according to the development team. One prominent source of inspiration the designers have mentioned already is Cormac McCarthy's 2006 novel The Road , which also has a less than cheery vision of what's in store for the human race.
In terms of gameplay goals for the mod, they include some that we've heard of before and others that seem intriguingly fresh and new. Single-player and co-op missions are on the list of planned features for the mod, which the designers see as having some sort of effect on the multiplayer universe. And one area where the team seems determined to stake its own claim in the survival-horror genre is the role of loot in the mod.
"You will be able to search everywhere in the world to find various items/tools/equipment/ weapons etc. at a very rare chance, since this IS based in the future," report the designers. "[Loot] will NOT be a main focus as we want to treat this as only an 'element' of the gameplay. We do not want to distract you from the survival horror aspect with the mundane task of loot farming."
In line with the mod team's stated emphasis on the horror and "psychology" of the world, the designers mentioned in a video update last month a game mechanic called a "sanity system" that will affect player interaction. All in all it sounds, in the most exciting way, incredibly ambitious. As it's still in development, a public beta isn't in the cards at the moment. The teaser trailer is below and you can check out a lengthy video dev-blog here .
